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OBSERVATIONS 


ON  THE 


r*fe 


MEDICAL  CHARACTER. 


ADDRESSED  TO 


THE    GRADUATES 


OE  THE 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  OF  NEW-YORK, 


AT 


The  Commencement,  held  on  the  4th  of  April,  1826. 


Bt  DAVID    HOSACK,   M.D. 

[font  of  the  College,  >m<l  Professor  of  tlio  Tlioory  and  Practico  of 
Tliyiic  and  of  Clinical  Medicine. 


nr.D  AT  THE  TlEqUEST  OF  THB  OIRADUATES. 


NEW-YORK : 

J.  BBYMOtJIl,  I'HIMMl,  JOHN-KTni.K T. 

182i). 


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Columbia  ©mbersJitp 

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LIBRARY 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

Open  Knowledge  Commons 


http://www.archive.org/details/observationsonmeOOhosa 


OBSERVATIONS 


MEDICAL  CHARACTER. 


ADDRESSED  TO 


THE    GRADUATES 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  OF  NEW- YORK, 


The  Commencement,  held  on  the  4th  of  April,  1826. 


By  DAVID    HOSACK,    M.  D. 

Vice-President  of  the  College,  and  Professor  of  the  Theory  arid  Practice  of 
Physic  and  of  Clinical  Medicine. 


PUBLISHED  AT  THE  REQUEST  OF  THE  GRADUATES. 


NEW-YORK : 

.  MULH,  PRINTER,  JOHN-STREET. 

1826. 


7t3dT 


CJ\  l<2 
H13 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Graduates  of  Medicine,  held  in  the  Hall  of  the 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  the  City  of  New- York, 
April  4th,  1826,  B.  F.  Jocelin  was  called  to  the  Chair,  and 
George  E.  Palmer,  appointed  Secretary. 

Having  heard  with  no  ordinary  feelings  of  pleasure  the  Address 
delivered  to  us  in  the  Chapel  of  Columbia  College,  on  the  morning  of 
the  4th  inst.,  by  Vice-President  Hosack,  and  being  desirous  of  ex- 
pressing our  approbation  of  the  sentiments  it  inculcates,  and  our 
grateful  feelings  for  the  important  and  useful  advice  we  have  received 
through  this  medium — 

It  was,  on  motion,  unanimously  Resolved,  That  a  Committee  be  ap- 
pointed to  wait  on  Professor  Hosack,  and  communicate  our  grate- 
ful acknowledgments  for  the  interest  he  has  taken  in  giving  us  such 
appropriate  moral  lessons,  and  for  the  ability  with  which  they  were 
imparted  ;  and  as  a  further  sense  of  our  approbation,  to  signify  to  him 
the  pleasure  and  advantage  we  should  experience  by  the  publication 
of  the  Address. 

Resolved,  That  Henry  E.  Griffith,  W.  M.  Ireland,  and  Wil- 
liam James  Barry,  compose  that  Committee. 

B.  F.  JOCELIN,  Chairman. 
GEORGE  E.  PALMER,  Sec'ry. 


New-York,  April  4,  1826. 
Respected  Sir, 

We  with  pleasure  communicate  to  you  the  sentiments  of 
the  Graduates,  as  implied  in  the  enclosed  Resolutions.  In  addition 
to  which,  we  would  individually  express  our  satisfaction  at  the  kind- 
ness and  interest  you  have  always  manifested  in  our  advancement, 
and  shall  ever  entertain  for  you  the  warmest  feelings  of  gratitude 
and  respect.  We  sincerely  hope  that  we  may  read  and  preserve 
an  Address  which  will  long  be  connected  with  the  most  pleasing  as- 
sociations. 

With  sentiments  of  the  highest  regard 

HENRY  E.  CR1FFIT1I, 

W.   M.  IRELAND, 

Wm.  JAMES  15  LRKX 
PoD.  HOS  U  K,  M.  I>. 


New- York,  April  5,  1326, 

Gentlemen, 

The  Discourse,  a  copy  of  which  you  ask  for  publication, 
was  delivered  in  compliance  with  the  duty  which  my  official  station  in 
the  College  demanded,  and  was  intended  for  your  use.  If  therefore 
the  perusal  of  it  be  deemed  by  you  likely  to  prove  beneficial,  I  cannot 
consider  myself  at  liberty  to  decline  an  acquiescence  with  your  kind 
request.  At  the  same  time,  judging  from  the  fate  of  other  recent, 
and  I  trust  disinterested  efforts  on  my  part,  to  promote  the  good  of 
our  profession,  and  knowing  the  unqualified  abuse  the  present  Essay 
is  likely  to  receive  from  the  same  quarter,  I  am  sensible  I  only  add 
another  occasion  of  exciting  the  angry  passions  of  those  malevolent 
spirits,  some  of  whose  portraits  I  have  endeavoured  to  depict ;  and 
who,  like  tigers  concealed  in  their  jungles,  lie  crouching  for  their 
prey,  and  ready  to  convert  all  to  their  own  selfish  and  savage  gratifi- 
cation. Yet,  with  the  hope  that  this  Discourse  may  have  the  salutary 
effects  you  anticipate,  and  which  have  ever  prompted  me  in  the  per- 
formance of  my  duty,  I  commit  it  to  your  care. 

Allow  me  to  add  my  grateful  acknowledgments  for  the  partial  feel- 
ings which  the  Class  has  manifested  towards  me,  and  the  kindness 
with  which  you  have  been  pleased  to  communicate  their  Resolutions. 

I  am,  Gentlemen,  with  great  regard, 
Yours, 

DAVID  HOSACK. 


To  HENRY  E.  GRIFFITH, 
W.  M.  IRELAND,  M.  D.    ai 
Wm.  JAMES  BARRY, 


H,  M.  D.   1 

.  D.    and     > 

r,  m.d.    ) 


ADDRESS. 


Gentlemen  Graduates, 

You  have  now  completed  the 
outline  of  study  which  the  laws  of  the  State  and 
the  charter  of  the  College  exact  from  the  candi- 
dates for  admission  to  the  Practice  of  Medicine, 
and  the  honours  of  the  Doctorate. 

I  am  happy  to  bear  my  testimony,  and  in  which 
my  colleagues  unanimously  concur,  to  the  atten- 
tion and  the  ardour  with  which  you  have  prose- 
cuted your  studies,  during  your  attendance  upon 
the  lectures  of  this  institution. 

You  have  exhibited  to  the  professors  and  to 
the  trustees  of  the  college,  as  well  as  to  the  re- 
gents of  the  university,  satisfactory  evidence  of 
the  diligent  use  of  your  time,  and  of  the  profi- 
ciency you  have  attained  in  the  various  branches 
which  constitute  the  qualifications  necessary  for 
the  accomplished  physician  and  surgeon;  and 
...hi  have  received,  as  the  reward  of  your  dili- 


gence  and  acquirements,   the   highest  medical 
honour  the  university  has  in  its  power  to  bestow. 

In  consequence  of  the  resignation  of  the  presi- 
dent, who  has  recently  withdrawn  from  the  con- 
nexions he  has  so  long  and  honourably  held  in 
this  college,  and  whose  duty  it  would  have  been 
to  address  you,  I  beg  leave  to  offer  a  few  friendly 
and  valedictory  counsels  upon  this  occasion, 
which  separates  you  from  your  Alma  Mater,  and 
introduces  you  to  the  world  as  practitioners  of 
the  healing  art. 

You  have  been  made  acquainted  with  the 
structure  and  functions  of  the  human  frame,  and 
the  faculties  of  the  mind,  with  their  mutual  ope- 
rations upon  each  other  in  a  state  of  health. 

You  have  attended  to  the  changes  they  seve- 
rally undergo  by  disease — the  characteristic 
symptoms  of  the  various  and  numerous  maladies 
to  which  both  the  body  and  mind  are  exposed, 
and  for  the  removal  of  which  your  skill  and 
knowledge  will  soon  be  put  in  requisition. 

You  have  been  referred  to  the  numerous  works 
which  contain  the  most  authentic  history  of  the 
diseases  for  which  you  will  be  called  upon  to 
prescribe ;  and  jour  attention  has  been  directed 


to  the  hest  description  of  their  symptoms,  their 
causes,  and  the  indications  of  treatment,  to  which 
they  lead  ;  and  you  have  been  taught,  and  at  the 
New-York  Hospital  you  have  witnessed,  the 
practical  application  of  the  various  and  nume- 
rous means  to  be  employed  in  their  prevention 
and  cure. 

Here  a  wide  field  of  philosophical  research, 
embracing  Zoology,  Botany,  Chemistry,  Mineral- 
ogy, Pharmacy,  and  various  other  branches  of 
physical  science,  either  of  which  alone,  culti- 
vated in  its  fullest  extent,  is  sufficient  to  engage 
the  incessant  and  laborious  occupation  of  the 
mind,  has  been  disclosed  to  your  view. 

In  thus  bringing  to  your  recollection  the  nu- 
merous subjects  of  inquiry,  to  which  you  have 
already  given  your  attention,  as  preparatory  to 
the  honours  with  which  you  are  now  invested, 
it  will  at  once  remind  you,  that  the  impressions 
made  of  the  truths  you  have  acquired,  are  recent 
and  transient;  and  indeed,  that  you  have  yet 
received  but  the  outline  of  that  knowledge  and 
of  those  principles,  which,  to  be  rendered  useful, 
must  be  made  familiar  to  the  mind,  and  be  deep- 
ly impressed  upon  the  understanding. 


To  make  such  impressions  durable,  the  infer- 
ence is  manifest,  that  they  must  be  frequently- 
reiterated,  or  they  become  useless  and  are  lost. 

Allow  me,  gentlemen,  here  to  observe,  and  I 
do  it  with  all  the  frankness  of  parental  feeling, 
that  although  you  have  given  attention  to  the 
branches  constituting  the  customary  course  of  a 
medical  education,  and  have  been  pronounc- 
ed qualified  in  those  general  principles  which 
are  necessary  in  prescribing  for  the  diseases 
that  ordinarily  fall  under  the  notice  of  the 
practitioner,  you  will  all  be  conscious  that 
there  is  still  a  variety  of  subjects  and  details,  to 
which  your  attention  has  not  yet  been  given,  to 
the  extent  that  you  yourselves  will  deem  neces- 
sary, when  you  may  be  engaged  in  practice : 
you  will  therefore,  I  am  persuaded,  not  rest  sa- 
tisfied until  you  shall  have  filled  up  all  those  de- 
ficiencies that  you  necessarily  must  have  observ- 
ed in  the  course  of  your  examinations,  and  the 
revision  of  your  studies. 

But  it  is  not  only  necessary  to  make  frequent 
reference  to  the  sources  of  elementary  instruc- 
tion, and  of  practical  knowledge,  which  have 
been  pointed   out ;    you  are  also   called   upon 


by  moral  obligation,  by  the  duties  you  owe  to 
your  own  honour  and  character,  to  your  profes- 
sion, and  to  the  sick  who  may  place  their  confi- 
dence in  your  skill,  to  add  to  your  present  ac- 
quirements a  knowledge  of  the  improvements 
medicine  is  daily  receiving  in  different  parts  of 
the  world,  especially  so  far  as  they  may  be  sub- 
servient to  the  numerous  and  complicated  ills 
committed  to  your  care. 

To  omit  such  opportunities  of  improvement, 
and  thereby  to  deprive  the  sick  of  the  benefits 
that  would  be  derived  from  such  researches, 
cannot  be  considered  in  any  other  point  of  view 
than  a  criminal  neglect  of  duty.  Remember  that 
just  admonition,  "  Quern  non  servasti  cum  po- 
tuisses,  eum  occidisti."  But  the  crime  is  pu- 
nished. In  the  event  referred  to,  you  are  not 
only  deprived  of  that  high  gratification  that  the 
physician  receives  from  the  conscientious  dis- 
charge of  duty,  and  of  having  afforded  relief  to 
the  afflicted ;  but,  if  not  dead  to  that  sensibility 
which  should  ever  characterise  the  professor  of 
the  healing  art,  and  without  which  he  is  not  duly 
qualified  for  his  profession,  you  will  experience 
the  reproaches  of  an  internal  monitor,  infinitely 


10 

more  painful  to  be  borne  than  any  bodily  suffer- 
ings to  which  you  will  ever  be  called  upon  to 
administer. 

This  is  not  all ; — the  friends  of  the  deceased 
will  form  an  estimate  of  your  skill  and  fidelity, — 
I  grant  not  in  every  instance  a  just  one,  but  for 
the  most  part  that  judgment  will  be  correct.  You 
are  superseded ;  the  more  industrious  cultivator 
of  the  profession  is  employed :  you  are  degraded, 
while  he  is  honoured  and  rewarded.  His  supe- 
rior skill  and  success  are  proclaimed — his  busi- 
ness is  extended — wealth,  fame,  and  usefulness 
are  his  remuneration. 

Industry,  united  with  a  sound  understanding, 
gentlemen,  are  sufficient  to  insure  these  favour- 
able results.  I  pray  you,  therefore,  to  omit  no 
opportunity,  which  your  intermissions  from  prac- 
tice will  afford,  of  cultivating  and  of  extending 
that  knowledge  you  have  thus  far  acquired. 

In  the  practice  of  your  profession,  you  will  fre- 
quently have  occasion  to  exercise  all  the  resour- 
ces which  your  abilities,  your  acquirements,  your 
observations,  or  your  experience  can  supply;  and 
frequently  such  is  the  urgency  of  the  occasion, 
that  you  have  no  time  for  deliberation ;  all  de- 


II 

pends  on  the  decision  of  the  moment ;  the  pecu- 
liar means  of  relief  must  be  forthwith  applied,  or 
the  life  in  your  hands  must  be  the  inevitable 
sacrifice. 

If  we  except  the  art  of  war,  there  is  certainly 
no  other  profession  which  calls  for  the  same 
promptness  in  the  exercise  of  the  understanding, 
and  the  same  activity  in  carrying  into  operation 
the  decisions  of  the  judgment,  as  that  of  medicine. 
Ignorance,  therefore,  of  the  appropriate  means  of 
counteracting  the  malady  before  you,  or  ineffi- 
ciency in  their  application,  becomes  a  crime. 

Industry,  and  laborious  research,  will  alone 
enable  you  to  perform  those  duties  with  facility, 
which  the  obligations  you  have  just  entered  into 
impose. 

Medicine  is  not  a  mechanical  art,  but  a  science, 
that  involves  a  body  of  facts  and  general  princi- 
ples, that  can  only  be  acquired  and  retained  in 
the  mind  by  the  constant  exercise  of  its  faculties, 
to  be  applied  as  the  circumstances  of  the  occa* 
sion  may  demand. 

But  you  have  still  additional  duties  to  perform. 
In  a  discourse  delivered  at  the  opening  of  the  last 
-ession,  you  will  remember  I  particularly  pointed 


12 

out  to  you  how  treacherous  is  the  memory  in  re- 
taining that  knowledge  we  may  have  acquired ; 
and  urged  upon  you  the  importance,  and  indeed 
the  necessity,  of  recording,  in  a  commonplace- 
book,  the  most  important  truths  which  may  pre- 
sent themselves  to  you  in  reading,  the  observa- 
tions that  you  may  make  at  the  bed-side  of  the 
sick,  or  that  you  may  receive  from  intercourse 
with  your  fellow-practitioners;  and  upon  that 
occasion  I  referred  you  to  numerous  examples  of 
literary  as  well  as  eminent  medical  characters, 
by  whom  that  practice  has  been  found  beneficial, 
and  tributary  to  their  fame  and  usefulness.  The 
names  of  Boyle,  Locke,  Montaigne,  Lord  Oxford, 
Voltaire,  Gibbon,  Pope,  Priestley,  and  of  our  dis- 
tinguished countrymen,  Franklin,  Colden,  Ed- 
wards, Rush,  and  others,  you  will  recollect  were 
cited  as  examples  for  your  imitation. 

In  addition  to  this  aid  to  the  memory,  let  me 
also  advise  you  to  set  apart  another  volume,  or 
note-book,  for  the  purpose  of  recording  the  va- 
rious diseases  you  may  have  occasion  to  meet 
with  in  practice,  and  the  most  prominent  circum- 
stances that  may  be  attendant  upon  their  appear- 
ance.    Such  record  should  be  made  by  every 


33 

physician.  To  this  practice  the  world  is  now 
indebted  for  the  valuable  history  of  the  epidemics 
that  are  contained  in  the  writings  of  Sydenham, 
Huxham,  Sims,  and  of  our  countrymen,  Lining, 
Chalmers,  and  Rush. 

The  singular  views  and  doctrines  of  Sydenham 
are  gone  by,  but  the  history  he  has  left  of  the 
epidemics  of  his  day,  will  endure.  So,  in  like 
manner,  when  many  of  the  peculiar  opinions  of 
Dr.  Rush  shall  have  been  consigned  to  oblivion, 
his  history  of  the  diseases  with  which  the  city  of 
Philadelphia  was  visited  during  his  own  time, 
will  perpetuate  his  name  to  the  latest  posterity. 

In  such  volume  too,  should  be  noticed  the  cli- 
mate, the  soil,  the  face  of  the  country,  its  valleys, 
its  mountains,  its  native  productions,  the  qualities 
of  its  waters,  the  quantity  of  rain,  the  temperature 
of  the  atmosphere,  the  prevailing  winds ;  and  any 
extraordinary  phenomena  which  can  have  an  in- 
fluence upon  the  character  of  diseases,  as  me- 
teors, comets,  earthquakes,  &c,  should  find  a 
place  in  such  records. 

Inasmuch  as  they  have  an  influence  upon  the 
human  constitution,  and  the  character  of  the  pre- 
vailing diseases,  and  in  some  instances  give  rise 


14 

to  them,  they  should  be  especially  remarked. 
The  writings  of  Dr.  Lining  and  of  Dr.  Chalmers, 
in  the  records  they  have  made  of  the  climate  and 
diseases  of  South  Carolina :  of  Dr.  Rush,  in  his 
Observations  on  the  Climate  and  Diseases  of 
Pennsylvania;  of  Dr.  Chisholm,  in  his  View  of 
the  Island  of  Grenada ;  and  of  Dr.  Drake,  in  his 
Picture  of  Cincinnati, — are  excellent  models  for 
your  imitation. 

For  an  illustration  of  the  effects  of  these 
changes  in  the  atmosphere  upon  the  human  con- 
stitution, let  me  refer  you  to  the  valuable  repo- 
sitory of  facts  contained  in  the  work  of  Mr. 
Webster  on  Pestilence.  Although  his  peculiar 
opinions  are  frequently  hypothetical  and  extra- 
vagant— and  there  is  oftentimes  no  connexion 
whatever  between  the  diseases  he  has  recorded, 
and  the  atmospheric  and  other  phenomena  he 
has  associated  with  them — yet,  in  many  instances 
the  dependence  of  the  one  on  the  other  is  so  re- 
markable, that  the  philosophical  physician  can- 
not pass  them  by  without  regard. 

You  will  also  peruse  with  advantage,  an  excel- 
lent paper  by  Professor  Griscom,  which  has  been 
approved  and  adopted  by  the  Literary  and  Phi- 


15 

losophical  Society  of  this  city,  on  the  manner  of 
conducting  meteorological  observations.  Permit 
me  also  to  advise  you,  as  far  as  your  leisure  will 
allow,  when  recording  the  passing  occurrences 
that  you  may  meet  with  in  the  course  of  your 
professional  business,  to  notice  at  full  length  any 
remarkable  cases  of  disease  that  may  present 
themselves. 

The  most  eminent  physicians  that  have  adorn- 
ed the  last  century,  have  pursued  this  practice, 
and  have  given  to  the  world  some  of  the  most 
interesting  facts  that  are  to  be  met  with  in  your 
medical  reading,  and  which  have  been  the  means 
of  establishing  those  principles  which  at  this  day 
constitute  the  science  of  medicine. 

Adopt,  and  diligently  pursue,  this  system  of 
observing  and  recording  the  most  important  facts 
and  cases  which  may  fall  under  your  notice,  and 
you  will  receive  a  rich  reward  for  your  labour, 
both  as  it  regards  your  success  in  practice,  as 
well  as  the  reputation  you  will  acquire  by  giving 
to  the  world  the  results  of  your  observations. 

You  at  once  then  perceive,  from  the  view  of 
the  numerous  and  varied  occupations  of  the  phy- 
aician,  how  incompatible  arc  those  severe  and 


16 

unceasing  exercises  of  the  understanding,  with 
the  ordinary  pleasures  and  amusements  of  life. 
The  mind,  therefore,  intent  upon  the  conscien- 
tious fulfilment  of  duty,  or  desirous  of  attaining 
to  excellence,  or  ambitious  of  reputation,  will  not 
be  diverted  by  any  pursuits,  such  as  greatly  in- 
terest the  attention  or  engage  the  passions,  that 
are  not  tributary  to,  or  connected  with,  the 
science  of  medicine. 

In  a  conversation  I  held  with  the  late  Dr.  Rush, 
in  the  last  year  of  his  life,  he  expressed  his  great 
regret  that  he  had  not  at  an  earlier  period  adopt- 
ed the  resolution  by  which  he  was  then  governed, 
of  giving  his  exclusive  attention  to  his  profession; 
but  had  suffered  his  mind  to  be  diverted  by  other 
and  less  congenial  objects. 

This  observation,  coming  from  one  who  has 
done  so  much  as  a  practitioner  and  teacher  of 
medicine,  and  who,  by  his  writings,  has  contri- 
buted so  largely  to  the  medical  character  and 
literature  of  our  country,  cannot  fail  to  impress 
your  minds  with  the  value  and  extent  of  the  sci- 
ence in  which  you  are  engaged,  and  the  necessity 
of  giving  your  undivided  attention  to  its  various 
departments,  and  which  indeed,  considered  in 


their  fullest  extent,  may  be  said  to  embrace  a 
large  portion  of  the  sciences  which  relate  to  mind 
or  matter. 

If,  then,  such  be  the  extent  of  our  art,  and  the 
time  allotted  to  it  be  so  limited,  that  every  hour 
becomes  necessary  to  enable  us  to  keep  pace 
even  with  the  changes  and  improvements  it  daily 
receives,  the  inference  flows  irresistibly,  that  the 
physician  cannot,  consistently  with  the  obliga- 
tions of  duty  and  regard  to  his  professional  cha- 
racter and  usefulness,  habitually  spend  his  time 
in  the  ordinary  and  frivolous  pleasures  of  life. 

I  trust  I  shall  not  be  accused  of  the  want  of 
liberality  on  this  subject;  but  I  must  be  permit- 
ted to  remark,  as  the  result  of  long  observation 
that  the  habitual  indulgence,  and  loss  of  time 
expended,  at  the  gaming  table,  the  race  course, 
the  tavern,  the  political  cabal,  are  altogether  in- 
compatible with  the  occupation,  and  I  will  say, 
the  dignity  of  character  appertaining  to  the  ac- 
complished physician.  It  is  in  medicine  as  in 
religion,  we  cannot  serve  two  masters :  nor  can 
the  physician,  while  in  practice,  consistently  take 
upon  himself  the  duties  of  another  occupation  or 
profession. 


18 

A  law  once  existed,  and  I  believe  is  still  in 
force,  but  dictated  by  a  different  principle  from 
that  to  which  I  now  refer,  prohibiting  the  physi- 
cian from  performing  the  duties  of  a  juryman. 
In  like  manner,  while  he  professes  himself  a 
practitioner  of  medicine,  it  should  equally  dis- 
qualify him  as  a  member  of  a  legislative  body,  or 
as  the  occupant  of  any  other  public  office  calcu- 
lated to  distract  his  mind  from  his  professional 
pursuits.  If  such  salutary  law  existed,  our  houses 
of  legislation  would  have  fewer  quack  politicians 
to  embarrass  their  proceedings,  and  our  profes- 
sion would  be  freed  from  a  portion  of  the  empi- 
ricism with  which  it  is  at  present  dishonoured. 

In  the  early  ages,  the  priests  were  the  chief 
repositories  of  the  learning  of  the  day,  and  while 
administering  in  holy  things,  they  also  performed 
the  duties  of  the  physician.  So  also,  within  a  few 
years  it  was  the  custom  to  unite,  and  we  still  oc- 
casionally witness  the  union  of,  the  clerical  and 
medical  character  in  the  same  individual.  This 
is  equally  to  be  reprobated ;  for  either  occupa- 
tion in  the  present  day,  and  in  the  present  state 
of  science,  calls  for  all  the  powers  of  the  mind, 
for  all  the  acquisitions  of  education,  and  the  nn- 


10 

ceasing  labour  of  the  conscientious  teacher  of 
divine  truths,  or  the  faithful  practitioner  of  the 
healing  art.  Here  too,  the  law  of  our  land  should 
interpose  its  prohibitions. 

Seeing  then,  gentlemen,  that  the  profession  you 
have  selected,  as  the  occupation  for  life,  de- 
mands your  unceasing  attention  and  talents,  let 
me  advise  you  so  to  divide  your  time,  that  a  por- 
tion of  the  day  may  be  regularly  set  apart  for  the 
study  of  some  of  the  immediate  departments  of 
your  profession,  and  the  cultivation  of  the  under- 
standing, by  as  much  general  reading  in  the  col- 
lateral branches  of  knowledge  as  your  engage- 
ments will  permit.  Without  these  aids,  derived 
from  constant  reading,  and  improvement,  a  phy- 
sician cannot  discharge  his  duties  to  himself,  his 
patients,  his  profession,  or  the  community.  Re- 
member, that  even  the  perusal  of  the  periodical 
journals,  containing  a  summary  of  the  improve- 
ments and  changes  that  are  constantly  going  on 
in  the  practical  branches  of  medicine,  are  at  pre- 
sent so  numerous  as  to  require  no  inconsidera- 
ble portion  of  your  time.  If  to  these  you  add  a 
general  survey  of  the  departments  of  science 
which  have  even  an  immediate  connexion  with 


20 

your  profession, — namely,  that  of  physiology, 
natural  history,  chemistry,  meteorology,— every 
hour  not  occupied  with  attention  to  the  sick,  will 
be  fully  employed  :  hence  then,  habits  of  indus- 
try, an  economical  division  of  your  time,  the  prac- 
tice of  early  rising,  and  temperance,  are  indis- 
pensably necessary  for  the  successful  exercise  of 
your  profession,  and  will  be  no  less  tributary  to 
your  health  and  enjoyment. 

Industry  in  any  laudable  pursuit,  is  a  never- 
failing  source  of  satisfaction ;  but  when  the  mind 
is  directed  to  objects  of  high  importance,  and  its 
exertions  are  attended  with  success,  there  is  no 
state  so  happy  as  that  of  the  industrious  man  in 
the  constant  exercise  of  his  skill  and  abilities. 
And  when  these  are  directed  to  the  relief  of  hu- 
man suffering,  I  know  of  no  luxury  which  the 
heart  can  enjoy,  superior  to  that  which  the  phy- 
sician or  surgeon  experiences  from  the  successful 
application  of  his  art. 

I  am  well  aware  of  the  pains  as  well  as  plea- 
sures attendant  upon  the  exercise  of  our  profes- 
sion. I  well  know  the  humility,  the  dependence, 
you  will  occasionally  feel  when  entering  the 
threshold  of  an  arrogant  and  imperious  "  lord  of 


21 

the  isle,"  whose  wealth  alone  gives  him  the  as- 
cendancy he  holds  in  society ;  for  he  wants  the 
intelligence  to  appreciate  your  knowledge,  and 
the  heart  to  be  sensible  of  the  gratitude  he  should 
feel  for  the  kindness  and  attention  he  receives 
from  your  professional  services. 

But  with  the  dark  shades  of  this  picture  some 
brighter  spots  are  to  be  contrasted,  which  it  is  a 
pleasing  task  to  select.  Yes,  gentlemen,  there  are 
some  occasions  when  you  will  receive,  as  the  re- 
ward of  your  anxieties  and  solicitude,  the  highest 
gratification  the  human  heart  can  feel.     I  ask, 


B 


what  can  afford  more  thrilling  delight  than  to  wit- 
ness the  unexpected  recovery  of  a  beloved  pa- 
rent, upon  whose  restoration  a  numerous  family 
are  dependent  for  their  daily  subsistence,  their 
education  and  protection  ?  What  heart  will  not 
throb  in  sympathy  with  that  of  the  parent,  to 
whose  bosom  the  only  child  is  restored  from  a 
state  of  danger  that  had  nearly  banished  every 
ray  of  hope  ? 

I  had  almost  said,  I  would  not  exchange  the 
pleasure  I  have  thus  experienced  in  witnessing 
the  happiness  of  others,  for  all  the  pecuniary  con- 
id  erations  that  can  be  attached  to  the  profession. 


22 

It  more  than  counterbalances  all  the  pains  and 
mortification  we  experience  from  the  ingratitude 
of  those  whom  we  have  served. 

I  can  say  with  truth,  that  with  my  present  know- 
ledge of  the  pains  and  pleasures  belonging  to  the 
practice  of  medicine,  could  I  be  placed  in  the 
situation  to  be  again  called  upon  to  select  a  pro- 
fession, that  of  medicine  would  have  my  imme- 
diate preference — not  only  from  the  inexhausti- 
ble sources  of  interest  derived  from  the  study  of 
its  numerous  branches,  but  from  the  gratification 
derived  from  the  application  of  its  principles  to 
the  relief  of  suffering  humanity. 

The  observation  of  Cicero  must  have  arisen 
from  those  feelings,  when  he  pronounced  his  eu- 
logy upon  the  healing  art.  f«  Homines  ad  Deos, 
nulla  re  proprius  accedunt,  quam  salutem  Homi- 
nibus  dando." 

Temperance  in  your  mode  of  living,  is  no  less 
necessary  to  preserve  the  mental  faculties  in  a 
state  capable  of  improvement,  than  it  is  for  the 
discharge  of  your  daily  professional  duties.  While 
44  to  temperance  every  day  is  bright,  and  every 
hour  is  propitious  to  diligence,"  so  intemperance, 
or  dissipation  of  any  sort,  is  destructive  of  that 


23 

state  of  the  faculties,  both  of  the  body  and  mind, 
which  our  profession  demands ;  and  utterly  dis- 
qualifies the  physician  at  the  bed-side  of  the  sick; 
for  his  understanding,  like  his  external  senses,  is 
in  a  state  of  hebetude,  rendering  him  alike  inca- 
pable of  investigating  the  character  and  origin  of 
the  disease,  or  of  directing  the  means  that  may 
be  appropriate  for  its  relief. 

The  world  commits  a  great  error,  and  may  be 
said  to  give  its  sanction  to  such  vice,  when  a  phy- 
sician in  such  disgraceful  habits,  and  in  the  daily 
violation  of  his  obligations,  is  admitted  to  the 
chambers  of  the  sick. 

In  some  of  the  Eastern  States,  an  intemperate 
man  is  considered  as  unfit  to  take  the  charge  of 
his  own  property,  and  it  is  wisely  committed  to 
the  care  of  others.  How  much  more  necessary 
is  it,  by  an  act  of  the  legislature  and  of  medical 
societies,  to  degrade,  and  to  remove  from  prac- 
tice, the  man  who,  by  his  intemperance,  puts  in 
jeopardy  the  lives  of  those  who  may  become  the 
subjects  of  his  hazardous  and  fatal  prescriptions. 

This  vice  not  only,  as  I  have  remarked,  inca- 
pacitates the  mind  from  forming  correct  opinions 
and  views,  and  at  the  bed-side  produces  conse- 


24 

quences  fatal  to  the  patient  unhappily  exposed 
to  the  prescriptions  of  the  physician's  disordered 
mind ;  but  it  leads  to  results  and  to  conduct  ul- 
timately destructive  of  all  moral  principle,  and 
renders  the  wretched  victim  a  prey  to  every  bad 
passion  that  can  dishonour  his  nature. 

Under  the  false  visions  of  this  destroyer,  as  in 
the  higher  grades  of  mania,  every  object  is  seen 
through  a  distorted  medium ;  his  best  benefactor 
is  considered  as  his  foe ;  truth  is  disregarded ; 
the  most  abominable  falsehoods  that  a  frenzied 
brain  can  create,  are  urged  with  a  pertinacity 
which  alone  betrays  the  source  from  whence 
they  proceed. 

Like  the  malignancy  of  fever,  it  pervades  and 
governs  the  whole  man,  and  displays  itself  in 
every  act  of  his  life,  while  he  is  under  the  influ- 
ence of  his  daily  inebriating  potion.  This  is  not 
a  fancied  picture. 

If,  in  the  ordinary  intercourse  of  life,  these 
things  occur,  what  will  be  the  result  of  the  pre- 
scriptions of  this  maniacal  guardian  of  the  lives 
and  health  of  the  sick  who  unwarily  fall  under 
his  protecting  care  ?  I  cannot,  therefore,  too  ear- 
nestly urge  upon  your  observance  the  virtue  of 
temperance. 


25 

This  leads  me,  gentlemen,  to  make  a  remark 
or  two  upon  another  species  of  intemperance ; 
that  arising  from  bad  passions,  from  jealous  and 
malignant  feelings,  especially  towards  brethren 
of  the  same  profession. 

Unfortunately  in  all  professions,  and  indeed  in 
all  pursuits,  where  the  mind  is  actively  occupied, 
there  is  an  excitement  and  irritability  of  the  ner- 
vous system,  which,  while  it  leads  to  an  ardent 
desire  of  excellence  and  superiority,  also  creates 
a  feeling  of  jealousy  and  envy  towards  those  who 
may  be  competitors  for  the  same  distinction  and 
public  favour.  I  exempt  no  profession  from  those 
feelings,  which,  until  counteracted  by  discipline 
and  a  strong  sense  of  moral  duty,  are  to  a  degree 
inseparable  from  our  nature.  Even  those  whose 
sacred  office  it  is  to  inculcate  lessons  of  virtue 
and  religion,  with  all  the  control  they  are  enabled 
to  exercise  over  their  own  conduct,  too  frequent- 
ly betray  this  characteristic  of  human  frailty,  and 
which  is  no  less  opposed  to  the  peaceful  spirit  of 
the  gospel  they  profess. 

The  profession  of  medicine  is  not  exempt  from 
this  charge,  but  in  common  with  many  others, 
participates  largely  in  the  indulgence  cf  those 

D 


26 

bad  passions,  by  which  its  members  are  not  only 
at  variance  with  each  other,  but  which  leads  to 
consequences  equally  destructive  to  their  com- 
mon interest,  to  professional  character,  and  the 
public  good. 

Accordingly  there  are  some  persons,  who  are 
constitutionally  of  that  unhappy  temperament, 
that  benevolent  or  generous  feelings  can  never 
find  a  place  in  their  bosoms,  or  display  them- 
selves in  their  conduct.  Persons  of  this  descrip- 
tion, happily  so  rarely  to  be  met  with,  that  they 
constitute  exceptions  to  the  general  character  of 
man,  are  soon  appreciated  by  the  community! 
and  notwithstanding  the  abilities  occasionally 
connected  with  this  misanthropic  disposition, 
they  are  deservedly  neglected,  and  are  doomed 
to  pass  their  lives  in  merited  obscurity. 

There  are  others  again,  who,  upon  first  enter- 
ing into  professional  business,  and  for  which  per- 
haps neither  their  talents,  their  acquirements,  or 
their  manners,  give  them  any  peculiar  claims  to 
the  confidence  of  their  friends  or  of  their  fellow- 
citizens,  if  not  immediately  employed  in  their 
professional  capacity,  become  peevish  and  impa- 
tient, consider  themselves  overlooked,  and  at 


27 

once  display  their  disappointment  in  an  envious 
and  hostile  temper  towards  the  world,  and  espe- 
cially to  those  who  may  be  more  successful  in 
obtaining  public  confidence  than  themselves.  Un- 
der these  circumstances  of  mortification  and  cha- 
grin, they  are  soon  led  to  commence  open  hostili- 
ties, making  use  of  every  occasion,  public  and 
private,  that  may  offer,  of  traducing  their  more 
fortunate  and  meritorious  colleagues. 

I  know  not,  gentlemen,  any  more  despicable 
characters  than  those  professional  gossips,  who  thus 
go  about  seeking  whom  they  can  make  the  sub- 
jects of  their  "  trumpet-tongued"  abuse;  whose 
only  abilities,  in  whatever  station  intrigue  or  ac- 
cident may  place  them,  are  those  of  doing  mis- 
chief; who  are  ever  and  anon  detracting  from  the 
well-earned  fame  and  usefulness  of  their  fellow- 
practitioners,  and  unceasing  in  their  ineffectual 
and  vain  endeavours  to  degrade  them  to  their 
own  individual  level. 

Do  not  therefore  be  impatient  when  you  em- 
bark in  your  professional  career,  because  your 
services  are  not  immediately  called  for,  or  you 
may  fail  to  attain  that  honourable  distinction  that 
is  now  in  prospect  before  you. 


28 

Remember,  that  confidence  is  only  to  be  im- 
parted to  your  friends  by  time,  and  by  the  evi- 
dence that  you  are  not  wasting  your  opportunities 
of  improvement,  and  impairing  your  faculties  by 
unworthy  pursuits  and  degrading  pleasures  ;  but 
that  you  are  assiduously  occupied  in  improving 
those  acquisitions  with  which  you  entered  the 
profession,  and  studiously  profiting  by  the  expe- 
rience which  your  yet  small  share  of  business 
affords,  and  thereby  qualifying  yourselves  for  a 
more  extensive  and  successful  scene  of  practice. 

There  is  another  error  of  conduct,  partly  aris- 
ing from  the  same  train  of  feelings,  to  which  I 
beg  leave  for  a  moment  to  advert,  that  the  young 
practitioner  is  apt  to  fall  into,  and  against  which 
it  is  his  duty  to  guard  himself.  It  is  that  of  self- 
sufficiency,  and  an  overweening  confidence  in 
his  own  opinions  and  practice,  by  which  he  is 
led  to  disregard  and  undervalue  the  observations 
and  experience  of  others. 

Under  the  influence  of  this  false  pride  of  opin- 
ion, forgetful  of  the.  adage,  that  "  experience  in 
the  ignorant  is  perseverance  in  error,"  he  often- 
times persists  in  his  attendance  until  the  patient's 
situation  becomes  hopeless:  and  then  jealous  lest 


29 

the  credit  of  recovery  be  ascribed  to  the  person 
who  may  be  called  in,  he  is  induced  either  alto- 
gether to  avoid,  or  reluctantly  consents  to,  a  con- 
sultation ;  which  at  this  late  period  of  the  disease 
becomes  of  little  importance  but  to  divide  the 
responsibility  of  the  awful  consequences,  or  to 
shield  him  from  that  censure  which  his  obstinacy 
or  his  ignorance  has  so  justly  merited.  To  this 
self-conceit  the  lives  of  thousands  have  been  sa- 
crificed. 

In  some  instances  too,  the  physician,  with  great 
injustice,  and  in  violation  of  the  obligations  he 
enters  into  when  admitted  to  the  profession,  per- 
mits his  private  misunderstandings  with  his  fel- 
low practitioners  to  interfere  with  his  duties  to 
the  sick,  refusing  to  hold  intercourse  with  a  phy- 
sician with  whom  he  may  be  at  variance,  but 
whose  abilities  and  experience,  he  as  well  as  the 
world  cannot  but  acknowledge.  No  circumstan- 
ces can  justify  this  departure  from  duty.  The 
physician  is  a  public  character;  he  holds  an 
official  station  in  the  community ;  and  therefore, 
while  professing  himself  a  practitioner,  cannot  be 
absolved  by  any  private  considerations  from  the 
discharge  of  the  functions  appertaining  to  that 
profession. 


30 

But  I  must  not  pass  over  the  no  less  culpable 
conduct  of  those,  who  having  been  long  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  medicine,  conceive  themselves 
competent  to  meet  and  prescribe  for  every  event 
that  may  present  itself  in  the  progress  of  a  dis- 
ease; and  believing  that  their  own  knowledge  and 
views  supersede  those  of  all  others,  avoid  all 
consultations  unless  previously  urged  upon  them 
by  the  friends  and  connexions  of  the  sick. 

Allow  me  therefore  to  guard  you  against  those 
errors  of  conduct,  arising  from  either  of  the 
sources  enumerated,  as  utterly  at  variance  with 
your  own  interest,  and  with  that  integrity  of 
character  and  justice  to  the  sick  that  are  look- 
ed for  at  your  hands. 

The  obligations  you  have  this  day  entered 
into,  I  trust,  will  induce  you  ever  to  obtain  for 
your  patients  the  best  advice  that  can  be  pro- 
cured, utterly  regardless  of  any  other  feelings 
than  the  welfare  of  those  who  may  be  commit- 
ted to  your  care. 

But  I  must  still  detain  you  a  few  moments, 
while  I  call  your  attention  to  the  more  immediate 
duties  of  the  physician  towards  his  patient,  and 
the  conduct  proper  to  be  observed  in  the  cham- 
ber of  the  sick. 


31 

In  the  first  place  let  me  recommend  to  you 
punctuality  in  obeying  the  summons  of  your  pa- 
tient ;  for  in  many  instances,  in  consequence  of 
the  delay  of  the  physician,  a  disease  acquires 
violence  and  activity,  that  render  it  afterwards 
difficult  to  be  controlled ;  and  in  some  situations, 
before  the  physician  arrives,  even  life  itself  may 
be  expended,  which  the  timely  application  of 
art  might  have  preserved.     And  when  your  at- 
tendance may   be  rendered  in  consultation,  the 
same  punctuality  in  keeping  your  appointment 
is  not  only  necessary  as  it  regards  the  sick,  but 
is  due  to  the  physician  with  whom  you  are  to 
confer.  Much  I  know  depends  upon  the  habitual 
division  of  your  time,  and  order  in  the  disposal 
of  your  engagements.     In  proof  of  the  correct- 
ness of  this  observation,  and  as  an  illustration  of 
the   benefits  to  be  derived  from  a  regular  dis- 
posal of  the  time  appropriated  to  your  sleep, 
your  study,  and  your  hours  of  correspondence, 
it  may  be  remarked,  and  I  believe  it  to  be  uni- 
versally  true,  that  he  who  is  most  extensively 
occupied,  performs  his  duties  with  most  facility, 
and  is  the  most  punctual  in  all  his  engagements; 
for  the  reason,  that  he  knows  the  value  of  time, 


32 

and  of  the  regular  allotment  of  it  to  the  various 
purposes  for  which  it  is  required. 

Secondly.  In  attendance  upon  the  sick,  the  phy- 
sician should  avoid  all  hurry,  and  deliberately 
examine  the  condition  of  his  patient.  It  is  true 
that  experience,  and  the  habit  of  observation, 
give  great  facility  in  discerning  the  nature  and 
peculiar  character  of  a  disease ;  but  oftentimes, 
owing  to  some  remarkable  change  in  the  state 
of  the  atmosphere,  or  to  some  peculiarity  in  the 
constitution  of  the  patient,  his  mode  of  living,  or 
some  other  circumstances,  the  disease  exhibits  a 
compound  character,  and  a  degree  of  obscurity, 
that  will  readily  mislead  the  physician  who  is 
precipitate  in  his  inquiries,  or  in  forming  his 
conclusions  from  the  hasty  examination  of  a  few 
of  the  more  prominent  appearances  which  the 
disorder  may  exhibit.  The  causes  which  have 
induced  it  must  be  no  less  carefully  ascertained, 
to  enable  you  to  arrive  at  those  indications  of 
treatment,  which  alone  can  lead  to  a  safe  and 
successful  practice  :  for  as  Celsus  justly  remarks, 
"  quomodo  morbos  curare  conveniat,  qui  unde  hi 
sint  ignoret." 

Thirdly.  Let  me  recommend  to  you  gentleness 
of  manner,  in  your  intercourse  with  the  sick. 


33 

Some  practitioners,  owing  to  the  want  of  a  suit- 
able preparatory  education,  and  of  early  inter- 
course with  polished  society,  acquire  a  rudeness 
of  deportment,  and  in  some  instances  a  brutality 
of  manner,  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  urbanity 
of  the  gentleman,  and  of  that  courtesy  and  kind- 
ness which  should  always  characterise  the  phy- 
sician. 

In  your  attendance  upon  females  in  particular, 
peculiar  delicacy  is  called  for,  and  will  never  be 
violated  by  the  physician  who  possesses  that  sen- 
sibility, which  should  ever  be  inseparable  from 
the  medical  character :  in  like  manner,  when  you 
may  have  occasion  to  prescribe  for  persons  whose 
ailments  proceed  from  a  morbid  condition  of  the 
nervous  system,  whether  constitutional  or  ac- 
quired, real  or  imaginary,  it  will  be  no  less  your 
duty  to  enter  into  the  feelings  of  your  patients, 
and  by  a  soothing  and  kind  manner,  to  direct  the 
remedies  that  may  be  indicated  for  their  relief. 

In  your  attendance  on  the  sick,  therefore,  you 
will  recollect,  that  their  feelings  and  emotions, 
whether  mental  or  bodily,  require  to  be  known 
and  attended  to,  no  less  than  the  symptoms  of 
ihc  disease.  Even  their  prejudices  are  not  to 
be  treated  with  levity  or  opposed  by  rashness. 


34 

Study  therefore  to  unite  suavity  with  decision, 
and  kindness  with  authority :  you  will  then  in- 
spire the  minds  of  your  patients  with  affection, 
confidence,  respect,  and  gratitude. 

Fourthly.  It  is  also  your  duty  to  give  that  at- 
tendance upon  the  sick  which  the  nature  of  the 
disease  may  render  necessary,  or  the  solicitude 
of  the  patient  or  friends  may  require. 

And  here,  gentlemen,  let  me  remark,  that  in 
the  chamber  of  the  sick,  no  event  that  can  have 
an  influence  upon  the  character  of  a  disease 
should  be  disregarded  by  the  physician,  whether 
it  relates  to  the  administration  of  the  medicines 
prescribed,  the  regulations  of  the  diet,  or  to  those 
circumstances  which  more  immediately  consti- 
tute the  regimen  of  the  patient.  The  physician 
should  be  all  eye,  all  ear.  Indeed,  the  vigilant 
physician  will  not  permit  the  minutest  circum- 
stance relating  to  the  disease  to  escape  his  ob- 
servation ;  nor  should  he  feel  himself  degraded 
by  any  service  in  the  sick-room  necessary  to  be 
done  that  will  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the  pa- 
tient. Recollect  the  sensible  reply  of  the  cele- 
brated Raphael,  when  asked  by  what  means  he 
had  attained  to  such  perfection  in  his  art.     His 


35 

answer  was,  "  I  think  nothing  that  belongs  to  it 
beneath  my  attention."  This  reply  should  be  re- 
collected by  all  who  wish  to  excel  in  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine :  every  subject  which  it  presents, 
every  occurrence  at  the  bed-side,  has  a  claim 
upon  your  attention. 

In  some  acute  diseases,  which  are  violent  in 
their  character,  rapid  in  their  course,  or  attended 
with  great  and  immediate  danger,  your  attend- 
ance must  be  as  unceasing  as  the  occasion  may 
be  urgent.  In  these,  your  presence  is  required 
until  the  patient  may  be  relieved,  or  the  danger- 
ous symptoms  are  abated.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
will  be  no  less  your  duty  to  diminish  your  attend- 
ance, as  the  disease  may  change  its  character., 
and  your  services  become  less  necessary. 

When  you  may  be  in  attendance  as  a  consult* 
ing  physician,  be  also  careful  not  to  make  unne- 
cessary visits,  and  thereby  to  multiply  the  ex- 
penses of  the  sick  to  an  inordinate  extent. 

This  leads  me  to  observe,  with  regard  to  the 
compensation  you  are  to  receive,  that  you  should 
be  altogether  governed  by  the  pecuniary  circum- 
stances and  condition  of  your  patients.  When 
Ififv  aro  nfTluont.  von  will  be  onlillod  to  the  full 


36 

amount  of  the  fees  that  are  annexed  by  the  Me- 
dical Society  to  the  peculiar  services  rendered. 
Under  such  circumstances,  to  take  less  than  that 
amount  of  compensation,  is  to  undervalue  your 
profession,  to  do  injustice  to  yourselves  and  to 
your  fellow-practitioners ;  and  indeed  is  no  less 
dishonourable  than  it  is  fraudulent,  to  exceed  the 
established  rates,  by  any  arbitrary  estimate  you 
may  form  of  the  value  of  your  services,  of  the 
attendance  given,  or  of  the  skill  that  may  have 
been  exercised ;  for  doubtless  the  Medical  So- 
ciety will  have  attached  an  adequate  remunera- 
tion for  the  skill  or  attendance  of  the  physician 
or  surgeon.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  patient 
be  poor,  perhaps  reduced  in  his  situation  from  a 
state  of  prosperity  and  wealth,  with  a  large  fa- 
mily depending  for  their  support  upon  a  preca- 
rious subsistence,— your  humanity,  your  sense  of 
justice,  and  I  will  say,  your  regard  for  your  own 
interest,  should  induce  you  to  proportion  your 
demand  to  the  exigencies  of  the  individual,  or  of 
the  family  for  whom  you  prescribe.  I  blush  for 
my  profession,  gentlemen,  when  I  witness  the 
exactions,  the  rapacity  manifested  towards  a  wor- 
thy family  who  are  unable  to  make  the  compen- 


37 

nation  demanded,  and  which  they  themselves  in 
prosperity  would  cheerfully  wish  to  render.  Let, 
then,  the  pecuniary  demands  upon  your  patients 
he  regulated  by  their  condition  in  life. 

From  those  who  are  in  moderate  circumstan- 
ces, be  content  to  receive  a  nominal  retribution : 
preserve  to  them,  where  you  can,  that  desire  of 
honourable  independence  which  is  inherent  in  our 
nature :  do  not  add  to  their  bodily  ills  the  anguish 
of  a  wounded  spirit,  or  suffer  the  heart  to  become 
depressed,  and  thereby  to  paralyse  every  hope 
and  effort  to  recover  their  wonted  prosperity. 
But  I  forbear:  the  generous  feelings  of  those 
whom  I  now  address,  and  the  liberal  education 
they  have  received,  render  further  remarks  on 
this  topic  altogether  superfluous. 

Proceed  then,  gentlemen,  as  you  have  begun  ; 
you  cannot  fail  to  reap  a  rich  harvest  as  your 
reward,  in  profit,  usefulness,  and  reputation. 

Go  forth,  like  the  good  Samaritan,  and  pour  oil 
and  wine  into  the  wounds  of  those  whom  you  may 
meet  at  the  way-side;  and,  like  the  founder  of  our 
holy  religion,  who  considered  it  a  part  of  his  high 
character  and  mission  to  give  sight  to  the  blind, 
to  restore  the  palsied  limb,  to  heal  all  manner  of 


38 

diseases, — proceed,  under  the  guidance  of  his 
great  example,  in  the  conscientious  performance 
of  the  duties  of  the  commission  you  have  this  day 
received :  and  when  your  head  may  repose  upon 
its  last  pillow,  may  you  enjoy  those  consolations 
which  arise  from  the  recollection  of  a  life  spent 
in  the  performance  of  duty,  and  devoted  to  the 
benefit  of  your  fellow-men. 

That  you  may  receive  this  return,  is  my  earn- 
est prayer.  Prosperity  and  happiness  attend  you 
all.     Farewell. 


FINIS 


0/o 


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